SUMAS, WA (MyBellinghamNow.com) – A petition to remove some claimants from the water adjudication process has been rejected.
Court documents state that the petition was initially filed by a group of Sumas residents in 2024.
They claimed that they draw the majority of their water from the Fraser River watershed, not the currently adjudicated Nooksack River watershed.
Judge David Freeman ruled against their claim, stating that he can’t adequately assess regional needs until all water users have submitted their claims.
He added that making changes to the filing process would discourage people from filling out their adjudication forms.
My Bellingham Now previously reported that roughly 1600 water users have submitted their paperwork out of an estimated 30,000.
